Battling Ebola in west Africa

As a new school year started in Nigeria this week, officials have been measuring pupil’s temperatures, just one of many steps being taken in the fight against Ebola in west Africa.

The disease is one of the deadliest known to man, with a fatality rate of up to 90 percent. Since being detected in the forests of Guinea in March, the virus has claimed over 2,800 lives.

10 Sep 2014. MONROVIA, Liberia. REUTERS/James Giahyue

A man, thought to be a victim of the Ebola virus, lies dead on a street in Liberia, the country worst hit by the epidemic.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf expects the Ebola crisis to worsen as health workers struggle with inadequate supplies, a lack of outside support and a population living in fear.

The disease, whose symptoms include fever, vomiting and diarrhea, has infected over 5,000 people in the region and could infect as many as 20,000 by November without international intervention to contain its spread.

11 Aug 2014. Abuja, Nigeria. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

Senegal and Nigeria have implemented strict measures to isolate the ill and track down further possible cases, and the World Health Organization said both countries are managing to halt the spread of the disease.

A pregnant woman, suspected of contracting Ebola, is lifted into an ambulance in Freetown.

In the most extreme strategy employed by a nation since the epidemic began, Sierra Leone ordered its six million residents to stay indoors for almost a week, as 30,000 volunteers circulated to educate households as well as isolate the sick and remove the dead.

The country’s army also sealed off its borders with Liberia and Guinea, joining similar actions by other nations in the region who also fear the contagion. The move, however, complicates international efforts to fight the disease.

28 Jul 2014. KAILAHUN, Sierra Leone. REUTERS/Tommy Trenchard

Much of the international medical assistance so far has been provided by French medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, whose workers are seen here.

Amid complaints from aid workers and regional leaders that the world was doing too little, U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans to send 3,000 troops to build 17 treatment centres and train thousands of healthcare workers.

The U.S. move has been welcomed, but it was accompanied by calls for other nations to follow suit, since the disease was still spreading faster than the moves being made to contain it.

14 Aug 2014. Berlin, Germany. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

Laboratory technicians of the company Icon Genetics prepare proteins from tobacco plants in a laboratory in Berlin.

The scale of the Ebola outbreak has prompted a scramble for experimental drugs, most of which are still in the early stages of testing.

ZMapp has already been used to treat several Ebola patients who have since recovered, but doctors cannot say for sure whether the drug helped them or whether they would have recovered anyway.

The Ebola virus has killed about 50 percent of those infected in the current epidemic.

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21 Aug 2014. ATLANTA, United States. REUTERS/Tami Chappell

Kent Brantly looks at his wife Amber. The doctor is one of two American aid workers who contracted Ebola in Liberia and recovered, following treatment with Zmapp.

11 Aug 2014. BERLIN, Germany. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Protective suits hang in the quarantine station for patients with infectious diseases at the Charite hospital in Germany.

21 Aug 2014. FRANKFURT, Germany. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

A fire brigade paramedic is assisted while putting on a sealed protective suit during a drill for the crew of an ambulance, which is equipped to treat patients suffering from Ebola.

21 Sep 2014. MONROVIA, Liberia. REUTERS/James Giahyue

A volunteer health worker practises using a personal protective equipment suit at a newly constructed Ebola treatment centre in Liberia.

23 Aug 2014. MONROVIA, Liberia. REUTERS/2Tango

Medicins Sans Frontieres health workers are seen at a hospital isolation camp.

11 Sep 2014. MONROVIA, Liberia. REUTERS/James Giahyue

A health worker prepares to remove a dead body infected with Ebola.

17 Aug 2014. MONROVIA, Liberia. REUTERS/2Tango

A Liberian woman is looks out as health workers stand in Duwala market.

17 Aug 2014. MONROVIA, Liberia. REUTERS/2Tango

Others prepare to move a person thought to have died due to the virus.